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The Wadi Feid Expedition

Surveyor Jesse Wooton at Jebal Feid

Photograph by Kyle A. Knabb

NGS/Waitt grantee Kyle Knabb led the first systematic archaeological survey of the Wadi Feid, an important water source bordering Jordan's unique Faynan copper ore district. The survey, which required rappelling down a series of 11 waterfalls, aimed to identify ancient trade routes and settlement types from the lowlands of the Wadi Araba to the highlands of the Edomite Plateau. This project is part of the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project (ELRAP) of the University of California, San Diego.

Pictured: Surveyor Jesse Wooton is accompanied by a flock of goats as she traverses the base of the Jebal Feid, one of the mountains above the Wadi Arabah Valley.

Rappelling Down Waterfalls

Photograph by Kyle A. Knabb

This season, the team focused on the upper part of Wadi Feid and were impressed by the intensity of occupation over thousands of years. In an area with such rugged terrain and high relief, people had to invest significant resources to build, maintain, and protect their settlements, agricultural fields, and trade routes.

Pictured: Eleven waterfalls mark the final descent into the Wadi Arabah from the mountains to the east. A spring located higher up in the Wadi Feid flows year round. Rappelling is the only way to access most of the waterfalls.

The Survey Team in Wadi Feid

Photograph by Kyle A. Knabb

Today the Wadi Feid waterfalls are a popular destination for ecotourists, but most visitors do not realize the significance of this area for its ancient inhabitants. The Wadi Feid spring, which begins less than a kilometer from the waterfalls, would have been an important source of water for ancient agropastoralists and travelling merchants. It is no coincidence that there are three major sites located near the spring and the waterfalls—control of this resource would have generated wealth and power for local rulers. Below the waterfalls there are deep pools of water that would have served as vitally important reservoirs to the desert populations. During our rappels we discovered a number of ways to access these pools, but anybody unfamiliar with the local landscape would have remained unaware of these supplies

Pictured: The survey team in the deep gorge of Wadi Feid. Pictured from left to right are Gregory Horvath, Ian Jones, and Kyle Knabb.

Path Up to Qarayyat Mansur

Photograph by Thomas E. Levy

The team recorded 123 sites in the eastern section of the Wadi Feidin only 3.8 square miles (10 square kilometers). Four large sites recorded during the survey are located along an ancient trade route that connects the lowlands with the highlands. Some of these sites have defensive characteristics and appear to have been fortified in antiquity.

Pictured: The path up to Qarayyat Mansur is littered with the collapse of fortification walls. This is one of the largest sites recorded during the survey, measuring 656 by 328 feet (200 by 100 meters).

Qarayyat Mansur Site

Photograph by Kyle A. Knabb

In general, the majority of sites were small farmsteads and agricultural fields and terraces used to feed the local inhabitants. A smaller number of sites probably served as campsites, or caravanserai, on the trade routes that connected the lowlands of the Wadi Araba with the Edomite Plateau. The ceramics collected on the expedition suggest that the most significant occupation phases were during the Nabatean, Roman, and Byzantine periods (100 B.C.E. to 638 C.E.) and the Islamic periods (circa 638 to 1917 C.E.). Sites dating to the Iron Age (1200 to 586 B.C.E.) were less frequent but equally significant.

Pictured: Qarayyat Mansur towers above the surrounding landscape. The site was built in the seventh century B.C.E. and reoccupied between the 12th and 16th centuries C.E. It is strategically located along a route down to the Wadi Arabah, seen in the background.

Petroglyphs in Limestone Rocks

Photograph by Thomas E. Levy

In the highly arid landscape of southern Jordan, water is everything. The perennial spring is today marked by thick patches of wild oleander, tamarisk, Atlantic pistachio, and fig trees, giving a small insight into the potential wealth of agricultural products that once could have been grown here.

Pictured: Petroglyphs are pecked into the desert varnish of these limestone rocks. Over time, the dark brown varnish reaccumulates to fill in the pecked motifs, which include human figures, ibex, and camels.

Bedouin Herder Leads Survey Team

Photograph by Kyle A. Knabb

The next step is to gain a better understanding of the relationship highland communities had with the lowlands. This requires more surveying in the lower stretch of the Wadi Feid, hopefully to be conducted in the next year.

Pictured: A local bedouin goat herder leads the survey team to an undiscovered archaeological site off the beaten path.

Abandoned Pastoral Site

Photograph by Jesse M. Wooton

Settlement pattern surveys show the strategies and options available to populations living in what today may be considered marginalized stretches of land. Knabb's research will help clarify the nature and significance of local trade routes and settlements in the context of ancient world systems and empires from the Romans to the Islamic Caliphs.

Pictured: Surveyors stop to record a small abandoned pastoral site. The building makes use of the weathering cliffs for its superstructure. A thick layer of goat dung is eroding down the slope.